A New Year’s Loud Shout Out to All of You! We fell asleep before midnight but that doesn’t mean we’re taking this upcoming 2013 for granted. “Tonight’s gonna be a good night” so said the Black Eyed Peas and they got it right! 2013’s gonna be a bunch of good nights (and days), I gotta feeling!Thanks to all that made it to the Christmas eve concert even within the spin of last minute moving locales. The Encinitas Community Center was warm and dry and worked perfectly. We truly thank Jim Gilliam and the staff for working with us on such short notice. Good people doing good things.We audio recorded and video taped the event and I’ve added a couple of clips from the concert up to both my website and YouTube. Our version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” lifted off nicely and another highlight was young Kate Sprague’s blues take on “Route 66”. Check ‘em out!
 Kate Sprague with us on the Christmas Eve concert. I’ve had some wonderful OPEN TIME which includes hanging cozy around the fireplace on these cold winter nights, great Stefanie soup creations with Kylie and friends, epic surf seshes with deep blue icy spinners, and some empty days catching up on my own music mixing and video editing. As a result I’ve shoveled out some new video clips from recent performances. Highlights include my solo guitar excursion on “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, a trio gig at The Calypso bopping on Coltrane’s “Mr. PC”, our jazz quartet version of “Rainbows” from a concert we did last summer and many others too. It’s fun to get them out there circulating.  New vids! Before I forget, a hearty thanks to Patricia and Hal for the handcrafted wool socks and soulful coffee mug. What a nice surprise! Hey, what’s your email address? I couldn’t find it. Up for this week, we’ll have a happy Thursday night back at The Roxy. I’ll be playing solo guitar, they’ll turn up the heat and the legendary sunrise smoothies will be flowing. See you there! Flutist Beth Ross-Buckley has organized a free concert on Sunday afternoon at the Encinitas Library. Beth is a fantastic muso and has taken an interest in my original tunes. For this show it’ll be all of my complicated greatest hits (that’s “greatest hits” in Encinitas maybe) with Fred Benedetti, Gunnar Biggs, Beth and myself supplying the soundtrack. It’ll be a good time!  Beth and the boys! |
The other day, Butch Lacy, a longtime San Diego jazz pianist hero who now lives in Denmark, sent me a jazz vocal CD and simply said “she’s really good and you’ve got to check it out”. The recording is Sinne Eeg’s latest release called The Beauty of Sadness. When Butch goes out of his way and ponies up the international shipping charges to make a point, you know something out of the ordinary is going on. I put the CD on and was knocked out with Sinne’s vocals. What a sound! What great pitch and her choices of songs and arrangements is stellar! She has a unique blend of her own music mixed in with a few standards including Michel Legrand’s “Windmill of Your Mind” and a wild take on “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Butch did all of the orchestral arrangements and they are pristine beauties. Peter Erskine is on drums and I’ve never heard of Jacob Christoffersen before but he’s playing up a storm on piano. Fantastic music!
I got in touch with Sinne via email and found out that she’s playing 3 dates in L.A. in early January. I asked if she’d like to play a show down here and she’s totally on board. I think Butch told her I’m someone to be trusted.
It’s all super last minute but the details have come together! We’re playing a night of Sinne’s music at Dizzys on Tuesday, January 8 at 7:30 pm. Gunnar will be on bass and young Charlie Weller is lined up for drums. I’ve done a few gigs with him recently and I love the vibe and groove that he brings to the music.
I know it’s a brutal middle of the week moment for a concert and it’ll be hard to shake loose from the homestead—tons of gravity pinning you down. But I’ll do everything within my power to make it worth the effort. Try busting out and take in a young vocalist heading in an upward spiral.
Here’s a little DNA on where she’s been:
Sinne Eeg is one of the strongest new female vocalists from the Scandinavian jazz scene. With 5 albums she has established herself as a Danish jazz singer with international potential. She is influenced by Nancy Wilson, Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan, but with her personal touch of soft darkness, Sinne keeps the Scandinavian melancholy settled in her music.
Since the release of the album Waiting For Dawn (2007) Sinne has won several music awards in Denmark including Danish Music Award (best jazz vocal album 2007, 2010), Danish Radio Jazz Award 2009.
“the ravishing young Danish vocalist Sinne Eeg. Eeg has an amazing technique, coverage for all the tones she sings, a genuine jazz feeeling and an unusually large vocal range from top to bottom. Coupled with a totally obvious stage charisma, dignity and a sparkle in the eye, this really makes you surrender.”
(Review of Sinne Eeg + trio at Kristianstad Jazzfestival 10 Oct 2008 by Alexander Agrell, jazz journalist at Sydsvenskan (leading morning paper of South Sweden)
Sinne Eeg, Danish vocalist.
There you go folks and thanks for reading.
all best, Peter
“Unmarketable Math”
For this week’s sonic inquiry we’re heading back to my 2005 release of Taking it All In and focusing in on a track called “Unmarketable Math.” I grew up with a crew of gifted and devoted musos and one real standout is Rob Schneiderman. He’s been living in New York City for the last 20 years, playing piano and recording with the likes of Eddie Harris, Charles McPherson, and J.J. Johnson. Rob also has 9 of his own albums on the Reservoir Records label. In addition to all of this, Rob embarked on a path of studying and teaching hardcore math and ended up getting his PHD in mathematics from UC Berkeley. He now specializes in low-dimensional topology at NYU’s Courant Institute. I asked Rob to explain his area of interest in math. “My research focuses on spheres in 4-dimensional manifolds and also 3-dimensional knot theory.” O.K.? He told me it’s a lot like the jazz version of math— it’s totally unmarketable and has no applicable use in the real world, bebop equations for a few of those who dig it and endlessly rewarding for those who create it. My tune “Unmarketable Math” explores the mysteries of diminished scale harmony and is exponentially dedicated to maestro Rob Schneiderman. Check it out.